Heatwave
by Seshat0120
Summary: Sam fights high heat and a time limit to prevent a tragedy.


**Heatwave**

_by Seshat0120_

_Disclaimer: Quantum Leap and all related characters are owned by Belisarius Productions and Universal. No profit has been made off of the writing or distribution of this piece of fiction._

Floating in the blue-white haze of the leap there was an absence of everything from the physical world. Up, down; hard, soft; hot, cold – none of them had any meaning while he was there, which is why the first thing Sam noticed once the leap effect faded was the blistering heat of the air around him. It was such a shocking change after the feeling of nothingness that at first he thought he'd leaped into an inferno. As his body did its best to acclimate to it he realized what he was feeling was the very warm, summer air around him. It was a heat compounded by what felt to be a very high humidity.

The next thing he noticed was that he had one hand on a shopping cart filled with groceries and the other hand was outstretched with a set of car keys in it. He took a lucky guess that the vehicle he was stopped next to must belong to whoever he was. Looking in the window of the van he saw a hazy reflection of the person he'd leaped into. He looked into the face of a man, and Sam sent up a silent prayer of thanks that it was a man he'd leaped into. He judged the man to be fairly young, perhaps in his mid to late twenties with dark blond hair. From the hazy reflection it looked as if whoever he'd leaped into hadn't gotten much sleep in several days because his handsome face was marked with dark shadows under his eyes.

Making the leap of faith that the keys would open the mini-van, he inserted the key into the lock and twisted it. He couldn't hide the pleased half smile when the lock obediently opened for him. So far this leap had gotten off to a rather smooth start. Not knowing what he might be here for, he did what seemed to be the next logical step and began unloading the bags of groceries from the shopping cart into the back seat. Over the course of all the leaps he'd done, Sam had begun to develop a keen detective's instincts when looking for clues as to who he was and what he was here to do and began to put those instincts to work.

He took note of the infant seat in the car which would explain the bag of diapers in the shopping cart. Glancing quickly down to his left hand he saw the band of plain gold circling his finger. Whoever he was, he was married with a child – a fairly new child he guessed, based on his host's apparent lack of sleep and "newborn" size marked on the bag of diapers.

Once he'd loaded all of the groceries in the back seat of the van, stopping several times to wipe away the sweat that was beading on his forehead, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out his host's wallet, and flipped to the driver's license in it. His host's name was Kevin O'Reilly and he lived in Medford, MA. The expiration on the driver's license was 1992. Somewhere from the depths of his Swiss-cheesed memory he dredged up a fleeting thought from his time in Massachusetts that drivers' licenses were issued for a 4 -year period so that would place him anywhere between 1988 and 1992. With a birth year of 1965 that would make Kevin anywhere from 24 to 27 years old. After gleaning all the information that he could from Kevin's driver's license he slipped the wallet back in his pocket and pulled the door closed on the mini-van. Grabbing the shopping cart he walked over the corralled off area and pushed it in there out of the way. Walking back to the mini-van he happened to catch sight of the temperature on the bank sign across the parking lot. "Oh boy," he muttered, once again wiping the sweat from his brow when he saw the temperature was registering at 99.

Somehow knowing what the temperature was made it seem that much hotter and Sam hastened to get back to mini-van and get inside and get its air conditioning running. Not knowing what else to do right at the moment, he decided it would be best to try to figure out how to drive to Kevin's house and just head there. Hopefully there was no other reason beyond the grocery shopping that Kevin was out, and his wife wouldn't question his early arrival.

He'd just put the mini-van into reverse and was pulling out of the parking space when he heard the Imaging Chamber door and Al popped out next to him standing in the passenger seat.

"Sam! Stop!" Al frantically yelled.

Sam reacted instinctively to Al's warning and slammed on the brakes, causing the vehicle to rock to a sudden stop.

"Geez, Al," Sam complained, "What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"

"Sam, we've got big trouble," Al said, not sounding at all sorry for having startled Sam with his sudden appearance.

"What, Tina's cheating on you again?" Sam asked with raised eyebrows. "Hey, guess what? I know who I am already," he said with a grin eager to show off his detective skills. "And I also know where I am and I even have an idea of when."

Al waved off Sam's recently acquired knowledge. "None of that matters right now, Sam. Just listen to me."

"Doesn't matter?" Sam questioned, puzzled. "How can I do what I have to do if none of that mat…"

Al cut him off before he could finish the question or ask any more. "Sam, would you just shut up and listen to me!"

Sam snapped his mouth shut. It was uncharacteristic for Al to be this rude and short with him at the beginning of a leap so he began to suspect something major must be happening.

"Somewhere in this parking lot there's a 3-year-old girl, Katie Michaels, who's been left in a car. She's going to die of heat stroke if you don't find her and get her out in the next ½ hour. That's why there's no time for anything else."

Sam pushed open the door and got out of the car and looked around. The grocery store he was parked in front of was adjacent to a strip center and shared the same large parking lot. The strip center curved gently to right and with it the parking lot, putting the far end of it out of Sam's sight. "You're kidding, Al. Who leaves their child in the car on a day like today? It's almost 100 degrees out. Do you know how hot the interior of a car can get?"

"Sam, there isn't time to be debating why someone would do something so idiotic. You just need to find her and get her out." Al's anxiety was palpable, causing Sam's level of anxiety to rise as well.

"Ok, ok. Where's the car?" Sam asked looking over the parking lot.

Al looked down to the handlink and punched a few keys and banged it on the side a few times. "We don't know, Sam."

Sam looked at Al, incredulous. "You don't know. How do you expect me to find her if you don't know where she is? Come on, Al, look at the size of this parking lot – and it's full. Do you know how many cars are here?"

"Nothing said where the car was parked, Sam, just that it was in this parking lot. The only other thing we know is that it's a black Honda. Now stop standing there asking questions and start looking. She doesn't have a lot of time."

Sam looked with dismay over the parking and saw the number of black cars parked in it. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. He ducked back into the mini-van and rummaged through one of the bags.

Al gestured wildly at Sam trying to motivate him to get out of the car and start looking. "What the heck are you doing, Sam. There's no time for you to go through your groceries. Come on, get a move on."

Sam finally popped out of the mini-van with two sports-bottles of water in his hands. "I thought I saw water in that bag. I'm not going to be any help to her if I pass out from the heat myself. Look, this'll be faster if the two of us split up. You go over to the other side of the parking lot and I'll start at this end.

"That's great, Sam, but what am I supposed to do if I find her? I'm a hologram"

"I know that Al. If you find her come and get me. At least it cuts in half how many cars I have to look in."

"Ok, Sam. Just hurry," Al said before winking out of existence

Sam pulled up the top on one of the water bottles and took a quick drink from it before setting out in search of the stranded toddler.

He'd lost track of how many aisles of cars he walked up and down looking for the child with no success. He knew it wasn't nearly enough. He looked down at his watch to see how much time had elapsed and then looked over the remaining portion of the parking lot. He'd just finished searching the area immediately in front of the grocery store and still had the majority of the parking lot left. It also occurred to him that it was possible the car would park after he'd checked an area. Dismissing that thought from his mind he pushed on.

Unfortunately Kevin hadn't exactly dressed for the weather in jeans and a t-shirt and Sam was soon drenched in sweat – not that it would have mattered if all he'd had on was his boxer shorts. The high temperature combined with the high humidity had the air feeling like it was well over 100. With the afternoon sun beating down on him relentlessly there was really no possibility of staying cool. In the 15 minutes time he'd been searching he'd drained nearly the entire first bottle of water. It was with despair that he surveyed how much of the parking lot he'd searched and how much still remained. "I'm not going to find her in time," he cried aloud. He didn't care that failing to set this wrong right could leave him stranded wherever he was. It wouldn't matter because if he didn't find the little girl he'd never forgive himself for her death. He kept pushing on hoping that the next car window he looked into would be the right one.

It was nearly five minutes later when Al popped back into Sam's existence. "Sam, I found her," he yelled excitedly. "She's down the other end and you better hurry, she's not looking so good."

Sam took off at a run in the direction Al indicated with Al hovering by his side. He hadn't gotten more than halfway across the parking lot when he had to slow his mad-dash to a quick walk because of the stitch in his side.

"C'mon, Sam, you don't have time to stop," Al cried out when Sam stopped and bent over at the waist with his hands on his knees.

"I can't, Al," he gasped out trying to catch his breath and hoping that he'd be able to stay on his feet. "Too hot."

Seeing Sam's distress Al's concern suddenly swung in his direction. "Sam, you ok, Kid? You're starting to get really red in the face."

Sam couldn't spare the energy to answer Al and just gave him a half nod.

"You should drink some water," Al advised.

Sam opened up the second bottle of water and took a quick drink from it. "Go check her, Al. I'll be right there."

Al popped out of sight without a word. Sam waited another few seconds and again took off at a run towards the other end of the parking lot although his pace was decreased from what it had been.

Finally he arrived at the row of cars and saw Al frantically waving his arms. Sam took off down the row. He stumbled against the car when he stopped, catching himself against the hot metal. He peered in the window of the car while he leaned against it and saw the child, just a toddler, lying across the back seat. He couldn't be certain but it looked like she may have stopped breathing. "How long do I have?" Sam panted out.

"Five minutes, Sam. You better hurry."

Sam tried the doors but they were all locked. He kept pulling futilely at the locked driver's door. "I can't get in, they're all locked."

"Break a window," Al frantically suggested.

"How? It's safety glass, Al. I can't do it with my bare hands!" Sam replied desperately.

The two of them looked around hoping to find someone who could help.

"There," Al yelled out pointing to the ground near the curb. "Use that."

Sam raced over to the curb and grabbed the rock that Al had spotted there. Running back over to the car he hit the driver's side window with it repeatedly until the glass finally shattered. Reaching through the broken window he unlocked the rear door and pulled it open, reaching in for the little girl. He gasped when he felt the heat coming from the car.

"Hey, you, what are you doing over there," a man yelled from the next row over.

"There's a little girl in here," Sam yelled back, pulling the child from the car. "Go call an ambulance."

The man took off at a run for the nearest store.

Sam looked at the child lying limply across his arms and quickly ascertained her condition. Her face was flushed and her skin was dry, two of the signs of heatstroke.

"Oh God, Al. She's not breathing," Sam whispered.

Sam knelt down on the hot pavement with the child across his knees. It wasn't the ideal position to perform mouth to mouth but he was afraid if he laid her on the hot ground he'd just harm her further. He tipped her head back, sealed his mouth around her nose and mouth, and blew two quick breaths before again climbing to his feet with her limp body in his arms.

He made a dash for the nearest store to bring the child into a cooler environment and to give him a safer place to resuscitate her. Bursting through the automatic doors he dropped to his knees, laying her down on the cool tile floor. Sam rested his fingers for a moment on the side of her neck and felt the faint pulse still beating there. His thanks for that was over ridden by the fact that she still wasn't breathing. Again he tilted her head back and sealed his mouth over her nose and mouth and blew a breath into her.

A knot of people gathered around Sam shortly after he came running in but he couldn't spare them any attention. The child in front of him was the only thing on his mind as he fought to save her life. "Please breathe, please breathe," he kept silently chanting alternating that with, "God, don't let her die," as kept giving her mouth to mouth resuscitation.

One of the women in the crowd broke free and started screaming hysterically. "My baby, what are you doing to my baby?" When she made an attempt to pull Sam away from the child, two men from the crowd grabbed her and pulled her back.

"What's he doing? He's trying to save her life after you tried to kill her," Al uselessly screamed at the hysterical mother. Dismissing her from his thoughts he knelt down opposite Sam. "Sam, Ziggy says an ambulance will be here in another two minutes and if you keep doing what you're doing she'll live."

Sam spared a quick glance up to Al in between breaths. "I don't know if I can," he gasped out, not caring who heard him. He was still feeling the effects from his run across the parking lot in the high heat and now was starting to see black spots in his vision.

"You've got to, Sam," Al encouraged.

Sam responded with a half-nod and continued breathing for the little girl, dismissing how he was feeling from his mind.

It could have been two hours, two days, or two minutes by the time the ambulance got there. Time stopped having any meaning for Sam as he resolutely kept breathing for the toddler. When he felt someone tug on his shoulder to pull him away he shrugged off the hand, not letting it interrupt his rhythm.

The hand returned, again trying to pull him away but this time he also heard the voice that accompanied the hand. "Sir, it's ok, we've got her. Let us take care of her."

Al's voice overlapped the other. "Sam, it's ok, it's the ambulance. You did it. You can let them take care of her."

Without further prompting Sam pulled back from the child, allowing the EMTs to do their job, and leaned back against the nearby wall.

"She's ok?" he asked Al.

"She's going to be fine, Sam, you did it. You just take it easy now."

Sam nodded his agreement with Al, or at least he thought he did. The black spots in his vision started to expand to a field of black. Before the field of black could completely encompass him it was instead replaced by the blue-white light of the leap as he was pulled from this place and time and sent to another. His last fleeting thought was that wherever he went, he hoped it would be someplace cold.


End file.
